“Help a Latte”…this Northern Middle School Showcase title says it all about what these knowledgeable, serving young students want to do in their community…”Help a Latte!”

These youngsters searched diligently for how they could make a lasting impact on their peers and their community, and of course, they found an amazing way! They used their knowledge and great background on technology, and shared it with those who lack these skills, such as their younger years, and the elderly of their community. They educated their peers on technology during homeroom time at their school including everything from basic use of technology, to how to research properly and much more! They even gave the “pre-tests” before the courses, and “post-tests” which they gave their peers after the course. I even had the pleasure of seeing first hand one student’s set of tests, and her score drastically improved from a 20% to a perfect 100% after the course! The students followed this same process with the elders in the community; however they had to spend countless hours advertising out in public and holding these courses on Saturday mornings! One of their ads that they placed in public locations to spread word out to the senior citizens in shown below.

How phenomenal is that? These willing kids gave up precious time out of their extremely busy schedules to make a lasting impact! The amount of help they gave those people just by teaching them about technology is indescribable! I mean, think about it, in the advanced, very tech-savvy world, we live in today, it’s hard to do anything if you aren’t the best with technology, but these students are immensely helping this problem in their hometown!

Throughout completing this amazing service project with technology, these students also became great leaders by each one heading up one service project with everyone else pitching in. Ultimately, each student in Northern Middle School’s STLP got to be the leader of one service project, while assisting in everyone else’s. Also, they go involved greatly in their community, working with people at Regional Hospital, their community center council board, and their 4-H County Leader! Can you believe they managed to do all this, all while still making great use of technology?! Believe it! They used various types of technology such as iPads, laptops, ebooks, and much, much more!

Along with educating their peers and elders on technology, these students also did many wonderful service projects such as, sending gift boxes to people in need, adopting a soldier, holding a food drive, and leading a clean-up at their school! I was astonished at all the outstanding things these young people are doing to make a difference! What they are doing, as you already know, is beyond wonderful and is most definitely making a long lasting impact on their school and community!